Horwich win to Ad weight to title tilt

Batting first, RMI were given a solid base by a second-wicket stand of 80 from Joe Settle (49) and David Hunt (35) and went on to make 181-7.

Daryl Hitchen (33) then played something of a lone hand in his side's disappointing reply of 68, Jack Berry (5-3) and Settle (3-7) proving too much for the rest of the order.

James Hatton stole the show at Higham Park as he led Atherton to a seven-wicket win against Darcy Lever. Having finished off the Darcy innings with a hat-trick, he then rattled off a quickfire unbeaten 45 to see his side home with plenty of overs to spare.

James Mulqueeny with 3-12 had done the early damage to Darcy who made just 88, Gareth Hopkinson top scoring on 26.

An exciting game at Vicarage Road saw Blackrod beat Heaton by 12 runs. Put into bat the home side were struggling on 27-5 before Will Trevor, Harry Phillips and Charlie Fletcher helped them recover to total 113. Jake Whittaker (4-19) led the attack. Ryan Tierney (20) and Matthew Bull (34no) led a reply undermined by a fine spell of 5-32 from Will Powell and left them just short on 101-9.

Heaton bounced back the next day with a comfortable 55-run win against Lostock. Despite 22 from Nigel Duxbury they found themselves on 59-5 as Darren Parr took 3-31. Jake Whittaker's 31 helped them reach 149 despite Neil Flanagan mopping up the tail with 3-3. With Kishan Patel taking 5-16 Lostock's reply never really got going despite Mark Cregan's 34 and a late flurry from Parr helped them reach 94.

Farnworth Social Circle enjoyed a comprehensive 198-run win against Tonge to keep in touch with the leaders. Andrew Wareing (78), Stephen French (56) and Matthew Knight (52) all made big contributions to Circle's 293 and Wareing (3-18) and Joshua Roscoe (3-19) then ensured the reply never got going, Tonge making just 95.

There was a close game at Eagley where the home side held on for a 12-run win against Astley Bridge. Put in to bat Craig Faulkner (37) led some consistent batting throughout the order to lead the home side to 165-9 despite a fine 5-23 from Nick Ford. Millen Patel (36) led the reply but until Adnan Bapu (34) and Ryan Thakrar (27) provided a late fightback Bridge didn't really threaten to win. In the end Mick Craig's 3-29 helped dismiss them for 152 in reply.

Little Hulton picked up another win as they saw off Little Lever by 35 runs. Put in to bat they were indebted to good knocks from Craig Cooke (71) and Neil Jarvis (53) as they reached 183 despite a fine 6-38 from Mark Martin and 3-65 for Lee Collier. Jarvis then completed a good day with an excellent 5-55 to foil any hope Lever had of reaching the target, and despite 42 from Alex Chapman they fell short with 148 in reply.

Standish enjoyed a welcome win as Lostock's poor run continued with a 46-run defeat. Paul Hogarth dominated the Standish innings with a superb unbeaten 88 which helped set up a total of 177-5 from their overs.

Several Lostock batsmen got going but only Tom Mills (24) managed to get past 20 as Nathan Harrison (4-34) and Simon Maiden (4-47) worked their way through the batting and dismiss them for 131.

Walkden enjoyed a comfortable win by 73 runs over Golborne. Batting first, Adam Harrison (48), George McManus (38) and Andrew Coop (27) helped to set Walkden up for a total of 169 all out. Having taken 3-34 Jamie Foster then provided the only real threat to the target with a useful 23 but received very little support apart from a handy 30 extras as McManus (4-6) and Wilson (3-16) helped put them out for 96 in reply.

Bradshaw continued to keep up the pressure on Horwich at the top of the table with an impressive eight-wicket win over Kearsley. Batting first, Kearsley were seemingly well set on 112-1 with Joe Capstick making 35 and Neil Thompson who would go to make a fine 75 seemingly well set. However Marcus Haslam (4-14) and Jamie Legg 3-36 triggered a collapse to 165 all out. Bradshaw then made short work of their target as Jordan Cross made an impressive unbeaten 85 and Matthew Dewhurst (33).